Though a fast-paced game might be exactly what Smart and the Rams are hoping for, Kellogg isn’t scared of a little chaos.

“It can get out of control both ways,” Kellogg said. “That’s the risk you take when you say, ‘We’re going into a battle, but we’re not pulling back or backing down.’”

In a way, Thursday’s meeting will pit model against modification. Smart’s sustained success in a high-pressure defensive scheme (the Rams reached the Final Four in 2011, with another NCAA tournament win last season) inspired Kellogg to ratchet up the engine of his own team.

“I took some of the stuff they did – the basic principles of getting up and pressuring and really trying to get the game moving fast – and then I put my own touch on it,” Kellogg said. “The UMass brand at least has an identity now. That’s what I was looking for.”

“I think when you go around the country and say UMass – the UMass brand and UMass basketball – people have an indication that we’re playing a certain way for 40 minutes,” Kellogg said. “I think over the last month, it’s really come back to the way it should look.”

That, though, doesn’t mean it’s a carbon copy of what Smart installed at VCU. Kellogg said his version isn’t quite as full bore as Smart’s.

“There’s 100 things that are different and there’s probably 25 things that are the same,” Kellogg said. “They’re keeping it on you for 40 minutes in all spots on the floor. We’re kind of more tempered and not quite as ‘havoc filled,’ you might want to say.”

With that said, UMass point guard Chaz Williams compared his vision of the matchup to a video game “on speed 100.”

“Just both teams running fast nonstop. It should be pretty fun,” Williams said. “Just keeping our composure and staying within our game plan, that should be a good point for us and a good part of our game.”

Keeping composure will be even more challenging inside a gym that has become known for its raucous environment. Though the building holds 7,622, a low ceiling keeps the noise level at 11 regardless of the attendance.

UMass has handled itself well on the road, racking up a 6-2 record in part because of increased maturity, according to Williams.

“We know how to communicate with each other when it gets loud. We know how to stick together,” Williams said. “Last year, we had a lot of courses where we broke up as a team, but this year we’re fighting through them and we’re staying together no matter what.”

But in those eight games, the Minutemen have only faced truly hostile, loud environments in their four A-10 visits, and none as intense as what it will see Thursday. Kellogg spent extra time Tuesday going over signals as the team practiced with the music cranked loud for large portions of the afternoon.

Kellogg often cites the importance of a good home crowd at the Mullins Center, and he’s well aware of the role fans will play Thursday, saying he’s likely to have a quicker trigger on time-out calls if things get rolling in the wrong direction.

“Those 8-0 runs can turn to 10 to 12-0 runs,” Kellogg said. “I don’t want to say quicker (trigger), but I think you’re looking more at what’s going on, making sure that it doesn’t get out of hand.”

Time-outs aside, when these two teams get together, things getting of hand for periods of time feels inevitable.